


New People and Shinny Things

by isabeau25



Series: Wander Home [5]
Category: Epic (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1387024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau25/pseuds/isabeau25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ronin brings the little boy home with him, at least for a while, and Finn is helpful where shinny things are concerned. <b> This story is included in <i>Babe in the Woods</i></b></p>
            </blockquote>





	New People and Shinny Things

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place the same night Ronin brings Nod to Moonhaven. Tara was in meetings and couldn't see them, so Ronin took Nod home, and on the advice of one of the Queen's guards who actually has children, bathed him, which is how he ended up wearing one of Ronin's shirts.

Ronin gave up trying to follow the boy around his apartment, instead sitting on the floor in the middle of his living room, watching as he explored, poked, and prodded everything he could reach. He was wearing one of Ronin’s shirts, and it fell almost to the ground, slowing him down a little, but not much.

He seemed to like being either under things, or perched on top of them, and when he found something he liked or was interesting to him, he brought it back to Ronin. So far Ronin had about half his chess set, a stack of books, his extra wet stone, and a sock he hadn’t realized he had lost, all piled beside him. The boy hadn’t relinquished the sack with the food in it yet, and the weight of it had almost unbalanced him a few times when he was climbing on the furniture.

Someone knocked on the door, and the child jumped, then dove under the couch.

Ronin sighed and got up to answer it, hoping it wasn’t an emergency. He could get called away at any time, and he was used to that, but he wasn’t sure what to do with the boy if he had to leave. Maybe he would get lucky, and it would be a message that the queen was done with her meeting, and he could bring the boy to her. She would know what to do with him.

There was a regular courier at the door and not one of the queen’s messengers.

“Sir, Captain Finn asked that you come down,” the man informed him.

“Um,” Ronin glanced over his shoulder at his seemingly empty living room, “ask Captain Finn to come here.”

“Yes sir,” if the courier thought it was a strange request, he kept it to himself.

Ronin returned to his spot on the floor, next to the pile of treasures the boy was collecting, and waited to see if he would come out on his own. It took a few minutes for him to crawl out from under the couch. He emerged slightly dusty and clutching something shinny in his hand. He crawled under the coffee table to get to Ronin and settle himself in the general’s lap.

The shinny object was a broken armor buckle, and instead of adding it to the pile, the child opened the sack and put it in with the food he had collected. He pulled out a bread roll and sat on Ronin’s lap eating it and getting crumbs all over everything.

“We have company coming,” Ronin brushed the dust from the child’s nose; apparently he needed to sweep under the couch more often, “Finn isn’t scary, and he’ll probably like you. His youngest brother isn’t that much older than you.”

The boy showed no sign of understanding, instead looking up at Ronin curiously, then offering him the half eaten roll.

“No, you can finish it,” Ronin shook his head in amusement, gently closing the boy’s hand around it.

The child seemed satisfied with this and went back to eating. He was sprawled across Ronin’s lap on his stomach, rearranging the pile he had collected when the knock at the door came. The boy narrowly missed hitting his head on the coffee table as he scrambled for his hiding place under the couch.

“Come in Finn,” Ronin called, ducking his head to try to catch a glimpse of the hiding child.

“Um,” Finn let himself in and stood in the entryway eyeing the general curiously, “are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Ronin straightened up, “I have a guest. I found the boy who was taking food from the caravans.”

“Really?” Finn hung his helmet on the weapons rack and started unbuckling his sword, “where is he?”

“Under the couch,” Ronin pointed, “you scared him.”

Finn quirked an eyebrow at him and hung his sword on the rack, “have you figured out who he is?”

“No,” Ronin shook his head, “I don’t think he can talk.”

“How old is he?” Finn came in and sat on the ground facing Ronin.

“I’m not sure,” Ronin said, “old enough, I think, that he should be talking. He’s pretty skittish.”

“Totally alone then, you think?” Finn leaned forward to try and see the child and was rewarded with a very fox like growl.

He looked at the general in surprise and Ronin shrugged.

“Yeah, I think he’s been on his own for a while,” Ronin nodded.

“That’s not good,” Finn sat up straight again, “I’ll send a messenger over to Nim and have him start pulling information on missing children.”

“Have him pull information on children that have been presumed dead as well,” Ronin added.

Jinn lived long, long lives, and as a natural compensation for that, children were relatively rare. It made them precious and well guarded. No child quietly went missing among the Jinn. It was much more likely that the boy had been presumed dead and so no one had been looking for him.

“It would be nice if I had a description to give to Nim,” Finn hinted.

“He’s had a rough day. I’m not going to pull him out from under the couch.” Ronin shook his head, “plus, he bites.”

“Alright then,” Finn found that more amusing than he probably should have, “the harvest caravans hitting up the dandelions in the meadow are having trouble with voles.”

“Voles?” Ronin made a face.

“Yeah, maybe they breed well this year or something,” Finn waved his hand dismissively, “I wanted to move a couple of the regular patrols over to help with them, but I wanted to check with you first.

“That’s fine,” Ronin agreed, “does Asa know how much longer they’re going to be at it?”

Ronin had been trying to track down the boy for days, and Finn had plenty to catch him up on. They had been talking for nearly twenty minutes when Ronin felt a slight pressure against his back and realized the boy had crept out from under the couch and was crouched behind him. He pretended not to notice, and eventually the child worked up the nerve to peer over his shoulder.

Finn stopped mid-sentence and blinked, “hi.”

Immediately the boy ducked back down, huddling against Ronin’s back.

“He’s tiny Ronin,” Finn said in disbelief.

“I know,” Ronin nodded.

“How was he on his own?” Finn leaned to the side, trying to catch another glimpse of him.

“I have no idea,” Ronin shook his head.

The boy dropped down to all fours and peaked around Ronin’s elbow. Finn waved and he ducked back again.

“Apparently, you’re scary,” Ronin teased.

“Apparently,” Finn snorted softly, “he likes you though.”

“That’s because I’m not scary,” Ronin smirked.

“No,” Finn laughed, “it’s because you’re so scary, you scare everything else away.”

At the sound of Finn’s laugh the boy pushed his way between Ronin’s elbow and his side, leaning on his leg and looking at Finn curiously. Ronin smiled down at him and patted his back.

“You need stuff,” Finn said.

“What?” Ronin gave him a blank look.

“He needs stuff,” Finn clarified, “clothes and bedding and toys.”

“He’s not staying with me,” Ronin shifted to let the child crawl into his lap, “maybe tonight if Tara doesn’t finish with her meeting soon, but then…”

“He also needs a haircut,” Finn ignored Ronin’s objection.

“I know,” Ronin brushed the unruly, matted hair out of the boy’s face, “he’s so squirmy, I was worried about cutting him if I tried.”

“Do you even own a comb?” Finn raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m going to make sure you don’t need a comb if you don’t knock it off,” Ronin rolled his eyes.

Suddenly the boy pulled his sack forward and started digging through it. He pulled out the broken buckle and held it up, pointing at Finn.

“What?” Finn studied the object for a moment, then grinned, “oh, that’s right, that’s a shoulder buckle,” he pointed to the buckle on his armor.

The boy crept off Ronin’s lap and sat himself on the floor between them, holding up the broken buckle to compare to Finn’s. He pressed it to his shoulder in the same spot Finn’s was, and when it didn’t stay there, looked back to Ronin expectantly.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Finn held out his hand with a laugh.

The boy gave him a suspicious look and turned back to Ronin.

“Go on,” Ronin smiled encouragingly.

Reluctantly the child put the buckle in Finn’s hand. Finn threaded it through the lacing on the neck of the shirt the boy was wearing and tied it firmly in place.

“There you go,” Finn grinned.

The boy tugged on it to make sure it wouldn’t come off, then smiled widely and showed it to Ronin.

“Very nice,” Ronin nodded in approval.

Satisfied, the child got to his feet and resumed his exploration of Ronin’s apartment.

“I think you made a friend,” Ronin laughed.

“I think he still likes you better,” Finn shook his head, “do you want me to just assume you’ll still have him tomorrow morning and take care of the morning meetings.”

“Yes please,” Ronin held out his hand, accepting another chess piece from the boy and adding it to the pile beside him.

“Got it,” Finn rose to his feet and stretched, “anything else?”

The boy jumped and scampered back to Ronin, ducking behind his back again and watching Finn from over his shoulder.

“See he likes you better,” Finn grinned and went to get his sword.

“Right,” Ronin rolled his eyes, “you need to meet with Asa after you meet with the captains, then you’ll probably have to meet with Butler, and don’t forget to send the messenger to Nim tonight.”

“Got it,” Finn gave him a half salute with his sword before putting it back on, “I’ll send you stuff.”

“I don’t need stuff,” Ronin protested, “he’s not staying.”

Finn was already out the door, leaving Ronin with the boy and his pile of treasures.

**Author's Note:**

> Among other things, Finn totally sends Nod a coat with buckles on it the next morning.


End file.
